Mercury Tower

Mercury Tower
Basic data
Place:	Mercury near Baden-Baden
Country:	Baden-Württemberg
Country:	Germany
Altitude :	670  m
Coordinates: 48 ° 45 ′ 52 ″  N , 8 ° 16 ′ 50 ″  E
Use:	Broadcasting, observation tower
Accessibility:	Transmission tower open to the public
Owner :	Südwestrundfunk
Tower data
Construction time :	1837, later extensions
Operating time:	since 1950
Last renovation (tower) :	1980-1982
Total height :	63  m
Data on the transmission system
Waveband :	FM transmitter
Radio :	VHF broadcasting
Send type:	DAB
Position map
Mercury Tower

The Merkurturm is an observation tower with a transmitter on the Merkur mountain near Baden-Baden , after which it was named.

history

The tower was built on the highest point of Mercury in the middle of the 19th century. Since April 8, 1950, it has served the then SWF (now SWR ) as a transmission tower for broadcasting radio programs in the VHF range and since 1953 as the location of a television station. The tower was completely renovated at the end of the 1970s. In this context, the radio equipment housed there was also expanded. In addition to an underground operating room, a reinforced concrete extension was built on the side facing away from the Oostal, which forms a unit with the observation tower. In this extension, a visitor elevator was installed, which leads to the 23 m high viewing platform . The extension, the construction of which began in the autumn of 1980 and which was handed over to its intended use in December 1982, is a 23 m high reinforced concrete structure with a 40 m high antenna carrier with transmitter antennas for radio and formerly TV on its top, and thus a total height of 63 m. Directional radio antennas are also attached to the mast, e.g. for internal SWR connections.

Frequencies and Programs

Digital radio (DAB / DAB +) and analog radio (VHF) are broadcast via the transmitter mast on the Merkur Tower. Until the switch to DVB-T in 2007, analog television (PAL) was also broadcast. DVB-T television for the region has been coming from Fremersberg since then .

Analog radio (FM)

In the case of directed radiation, the main radiation directions are given in degrees in the antenna diagram.

Frequency   (MHz)	program	RDS PS	RDS PI	Regionalization	ERP   (kW)	Antenna pattern round (ND) / directional (D)	Polarization horizontal (H) / vertical (V)
88.5	SWR4 Baden-Württemberg	SWR4_KA_	D804	Baden radio	0.8	D (180 ° -210 °)	H
90.9	SWR1 Baden-Württemberg	SWR1_BW_	D301	-	0.8	D (180 ° -210 °)	H
98.9	SWR2	__SWR2__	D3A2	Baden-Württemberg	0.8	D (180 ° -210 °)	H
99.6	SWR3	__SWR3__	D3A3	Baden / Electoral Palatinate	0.4	D (180 ° -210 °)	H
100.9	the new wave	die_neue / _welle __ / regional	D30C, D40C	Baden-Baden	0.8	ND	H

Digital radio (DAB / DAB +)

block	Programs (data services)	ERP   (kW)	Antenna diagram round (ND), directional (D)	Polarization horizontal (H) / vertical (V)	Single frequency network (SFN)
9D SWR BW N (D__00234)	DAB + block of the SWR SWR1 BW (112 kbps) SWR2 (128 kbps) SWR3 (Rhineland to Lake Constance) (112 kbps) SWR4 HN (Studio Heilbronn) (112 kbps) SWR4 KA (Studio Karlsruhe) (112 kbps) SWR4 MA (Studio Mannheim) (112 kbps) SWR4 S (Studio Stuttgart) (112 kbps) SWR4 UL (Studio Ulm) (112 kbps) SWR current (72 kbps) DASDING (112 kbps) EPG (24 kbps) TPEG (16 kbps)	5	ND	V	Aalen , Baden-Baden (Merkur) , Bad Mergentheim (Am Kettenwald) , Buchen (Odenwald) , Heidelberg-Königstuhl , Heilbronn-Weinsberg , Langenbrand , Mühlacker , Murgtal (Draberg) , Oberböhringen , Stuttgart-Degerloch , Stuttgart (Funkhaus) , Waldenburg -Friedrichsberg , Wattkopf (Ettlingen) , Wertheim
11B  DRS BW (D__00201)	DAB + multiplex of Digital Radio Südwest : baden.fm (72 kbps) bigFM (72 kbps) The new 107.7 (72 kbps) the new wave (72 kbps) Danube 3 FM (72 kbps) egoFM (72 kbps) Hitradio ear (72 kbps) Radio 7 (72 kbps) Schlager Radio B2 (72 kbps) Radio Rainbow (72 kbps) The new radio maritime radio (72 kbps) Radio Teddy (72 kbps) Radio sound (72 kbps) Rock antenna (72 kbps) Rainbow Two (72 kbps) Antenna 1 (72 kbps)	0.8 (max. 5)	ND	V	Geislingen (Oberböhringen) , Freiburg (Vogtsburg) , Heidelberg (Königstuhl) , Heilbronn (Schweinsberg) , Hornisgrinde , Lahr (Schutterlindenberg) , Pforzheim (Langenbrand) , Baden-Baden (Merkur) , Stuttgart TV tower , Ulm (Kuhberg) , Ettlingen (Wattkopf )

Analog television (PAL)

Before the switch to DVB-T, the broadcasting location was still used for analog television:

channel	Frequency   (MHz)	program	ERP (kW)	Transmission diagram round (ND) / directional (D)	Polarization horizontal (H) / vertical (V)
7th	189.25	The First (SWR)	0.32	D.	H
26th	511.25	ZDF	0.15	ND	H
47	679.25	B.TV	0.02	D.	H
57	759.25	SWR television Baden-Württemberg	0.15	ND	H

See also

• Baden-Baden transmitter (formerly medium wave transmitter)
• Transmitter Baden-Baden (Fremersberg)
• List of observation towers in the Black Forest

Web links

Commons : Mercury Tower  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Merkurberg (Baden-Baden) ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Baden-Baden website , accessed on January 5, 2015 
2. ^ Digital radio (Radio of the Future) Baden-Württemberg , accessed on April 10, 2012